Favorite MiLB Photos of 2009 - Part I

Canon Mark IIN, 400mm/2.8, ISO 200, 1/2500, f 3.2

After deciding it was time to join the world of blogging I had a hard time deciding what the topic of my first blog should be about. Having just completed a busy 6 months of covering as much minor league baseball as I could, I decided to start by sharing some of my favorite images from the 2009 season. I will be breaking this up into several different posts, starting with pitchers.

Photographing pitchers is not that difficult, but its a lot more involved than just mashing down the shutter button and shooting 8 frames per second, hoping 1-2 of those images will be usable. A lot of times I will take photos of pitchers between innings as they warm up, positioning myself slightly to one side of the catcher depending on whether the pitcher is left or right handed. I also pay VERY close attention to what is behind the pitcher as he warms up. I do everything I can to make sure there are no infielders and/or outfielders in the frame. I am trying to make it look like game action, and nothing kills that faster than seeing the shortstop standing in the background of the shot waiting for the first baseman to throw them the ball. Even when there are no fielders visible in the photo, I have had to delete images where you can see the ball that one of the fielders has thrown to first base hanging in the air behind the pitcher.

The next thing that comes into play for me is timing.  I try to always capture at least one image where the ball is just about to leave the pitcher's hand, or better yet, where the ball is on the end of their finger tips, as you can see in the photo of Dexter Carter of the Kannapolis Intimidators to the left.  Again, I do not just hold down the shutter button and fire off 5-10 frames.  It make take several pitches, but I try to watch the pitcher to see where his release point is and shoot 1-2 frames to try and capture the ball just before it is released.  There have been some pitchers that no matter how hard I tried, I just could not time their release point.

Canon Mark IIN, 400mm, ISO 200, 1/1600, f 3.2

Every ballpark is different in terms of where you can shoot from (some have field level positions for photographers, others do not) and the backgrounds differ as well.  Some ballparks have so much advertising on the outfield walls that it's very hard to take a photo with a "clean" background.  In Kannapolis I like to take photos from all different angles.  The majority of images will be shot at field level, but for pitchers I like to go up to the first concourse level and shoot down.  This gives a nice clean background such as in the image below:

Canon Mark IIN, 400mm, ISO 200, 1/2000, f 3.2 

As you can see there are no outfield signs, no umpires or other players visible, and also you can't see all of the empty seats at the ballpark that day.  In the past I have been a team photographer, and the one thing the front office people do NOT like to see are photos that show a lot of empty seats.

Knights Stadium in Fort Mill, SC is the home for the Charlotte Knights, AAA affiliate of the Chicago White Sox.  The stands at Knights Stadium are above field level, but behind home plate they have a small opening cut into one of the doors that opens on to the field.  It is slightly on the third base side of home plate, and when there is a left handed batter at bat, you have a clear shot at the pitcher on the mound.  Additionally since there can not be any ads or banners in the "batter's eye" in also gives you a nice clean background, as you can see in the photo below:

Canon Mark IIN, 400mm, ISO 1250, 1/1000, f 2.8

Another ballpark I spend a lot of time at is Wake Forest Baseball Park (formerly Ernie Shore Field) in Winston-Salem, NC.  The Winston-Salem Dash (formerly the Winston-Salem Warthogs) played there in 2009 as their new downtown ballpark was not completed in time for the 2009 season.  The seats are at field level, and you can get some great images of pitchers by shooting through the netting behind home plate.  Another photographer friend of mine, Bill "Tiny" Setliff, was the first to share this tip with me.  Up until then I had no idea that you can should through the net and it would not be visible in the photo.  The photo below was shot through the net, and since Tyson Corely throws with a side-arm motion, I shot some images horizontally as well.  In the past I would shoot almost entirely in vertical orientation, but more and more websites use photos in horizontal format, so I have taken to shooting both.

Canon Mark IIN, 400mm, ISO 1250, 1/1600, f 2.8